1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a fluid composition in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion comprising at least one acrylic terpolymer and to the use of the composition, in particular for caring for, removing make-up from, cleansing and/or scenting the skin of the body or the face, the hair and/or the lips and for impregnating fabrics intended for cleansing and/or removing make-up from the skin, lips and/or eyes.
2. Description of the Background
For various reasons related especially to a better comfort of use (softness, emollience and others), current cosmetic compositions are generally provided in the form of an emulsion of the oil-in-water (O/W) type composed of a continuous aqueous dispersing phase and of a non-continuous oily dispersed phase or of an emulsion of the water-in-oil (W/O) type composed of a continuous oily dispersing phase and of a non-continuous aqueous dispersed phase. O/W emulsions are in the greatest demand in the cosmetics field because they comprise an aqueous phase as an external phase, which confers on them, during application to the skin, a fresher, less greasy and lighter feel than W/O emulsions.
The emulsions are generally stabilized by appropriate emulsifying surfactants which, by virtue of their amphiphilic structure, become positioned at the oil/water interface and thus stabilize the dispersed droplets. However, these emulsifiers exhibit the disadvantage of being penetrating and potentially irritating to the skin, eyes and scalp, in particular for users with sensitive skin.
In addition, in these conventional emulsions which comprise emulsifying surfactants, the size of the oily globules is generally greater than several microns. Such emulsions can have inadequate cosmetic and physicochemical properties (oily feel, instability over time). Increasing the level of the surfactants does not generally solve the problems discussed above. The stability required is not always achieved and the cosmetic properties are not improved (waxy and heavy feel, lack of freshness on application). Furthermore, as indicated above, it is also inadvisable to use an excessively high level of surfactant for reasons of harmlessness.
A solution in order to achieve freedom from the phenomena of instability of O/W emulsions (creaming and phase separation) consists in adding thickening agents to the emulsion, the role of which thickening agents is to create, within the aqueous phase, a gelled matrix which serves to set the oily droplets and which provides for mechanical maintenance of the entire emulsion. However, this solution exhibits the disadvantage of not making it possible to obtain all the desired textures and in particular fluid and light textures which are readily and rapidly applied to the skin without leaving a residual film.
Furthermore, the replacement of the surfactants by polymers comprising, in their chain, a hydrophilic part and a hydrophobic part composed of a fatty chain, such as copolymers of C.sub.10 -C.sub.30)alkyl acrylate and of acrylic or methacrylic acid, such as the product "Pemulen TR2" sold by Goodrich, has been envisaged. However, these polymers exhibit the disadvantage of not making it possible to obtain compositions which are sufficiently fluid to be able to be vaporized.